The floor should be bare, and this, together with all other plane surfaces should be washed several times a week with hot water and soda. Great caution must be exercised in making a sanitary sick-room, but, in her enthusiasm to produce ideal conditions, the nurse must remember that articles used for months by the patient, and suddenly banished from his proximity, may be very deadly elsewhere. In advising that carpets and curtains be removed, she must be careful what becomes of them. If germ-laden carpets are sold, or given to the neighbour next door, they would better remain where they are. Poor people find it hard to withstand the temptation to sell or give away serviceable articles, which is of course but natural, but the nurse must be on guard against such occurrences. To have an ideal sick-room, there is no necessity for its being depressing by its bleak ugliness, or bare and dismal as a cell. Washable muslin curtains may be permitted, and there is no objection to pictures and ornaments in moderation. It is bad enough to have tuberculosis, without penalizing the patient by removing from him all those little treasures which give him pleasure and harm no one. In selecting a good room for the patient, the nurse may find it necessary to have him exchange with some other member of the household. In this event, great care must be taken that the room vacated by the patient is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before being occupied by anyone else. There are also circumstances which render it unwise to make this exchange: for example, say that we have a moderately advanced case, whose improvement is doubtful. He is occupying a room with one window—not ideal, but fair enough. There is also another room in the house, containing several windows, altogether brighter and larger, but occupied by three or four people, so far healthy and sound. To exchange rooms under such conditions would be bad policy—it would be of little advantage to the patient himself, while the other people would be subjected to overcrowding and bad ventilation, which would decidedly lower their resistance. Those in prolonged, intimate contact with a consumptive must not be allowed to reduce their vitality in any way. To arrange a good sanitary room for a patient does not in the least mean that he will use it. Such a room would doubtless appear well in a photograph, illustrating the “before and after” phases of the nurse’s activity, but this does not necessarily mean that the patient is isolated and harmless. He will probably use his nice room for sleeping purposes only, and it is what he does with the remainder of his time that counts. He comes into contact with the household at meals, in the evenings, and on innumerable other occasions, and the consciousness of an immaculate bedroom should not lessen the nurse’s anxiety about the kitchen, the living-room, and the family sofa. There is where the danger lies.